Apparatus for use in and in connection with electrolytic processes.



A. E. ,BATTLE.

APPARATUS FOR USE IN AND IN CONNECTION WITH ELECTROLYTIC PROCESSES.

7 APPLICATION FILED ram/24.1915.

Patented July 18, 1916.

'////////////II/7/A VIII/Ill STATES" PATENT OFFICE- ALBERT ERNEsT BATTLE, or ALDGA'IE, LONDON, ENGLAND.

APPARATUS EoR aw in AND IN CONNECTION WITH ELECTROLYTIC rRocEssEs.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT EnNEsT BAT- TLE, subject of George V, King of Great Britain and Ireland, and residing at' Newlyn House, 4 and 5 High street, Aldgate, in the county of London, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in .that the path of the moval of a surface metal from thin sheets,

as for instance tin from tinned plate and the cleaning or pickling of metal sheets by an electrolyticor chemical process. According to this invention the sheets are fed into and out of the electrolyte or solution through a slit or opening or elongated valve by means of rollers or s milar means,

so that the sheets enter or'leave the vat, as

the case may be, below the level of the solution. The rollers and slits are arranged so sheets or plates can be I continuous through a s'erieso'f vats,,in which such operations as pickling, washing electrolike may be carrled out.,

depositing and the Thus, if this path is horizontal, the sheets or plates will enter and leave the various vats through slits inthe ends of. the vats. If the path is a vertical one,the variousvats may be placed one abovethe other and the sheets or'plates may enter through slits in the bottom and leave at the open top ofthe vat.

' Of'course the directionmay be reversed and Fig. 4 is a section on the sheets made to enter at the top and leave by the slit at the bottom In order that my invention may be clearly understood and readily carried intoeffect, I willproceedto describe one form of it with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like letters of reference indicate like parts in all the views.

Figure 1 shows in elevation an arrangement of vats adapted for a series of electroplating operations. Fig. 2 is a plan of Fig. *1. Fig. 3 shows in broken plan a vat having valves provided with flaps for preventing escape of the solution through the slits while the-sheets are under treatment inthe vat.

line A-A of theleft- Fig. 5 is a section on hand end of Fig. 3.

F g. 6 shows in horiline B -B of Fig. 3.

Specification of Letters Patent.

- comprise flexible Patented July 18,1916.

Application'filed III 2.5 24, 1915. Serial No. 30,227.

zontal section a portion of a vat-having a lar view illustrating a further modified form of valve. Fig. 8 shows in vertical section a vat-having a horlzontal roller for supporting the thin sheets, also springs for keeping the vertical rollers close engagement with the thin sheets. Flg. 9 shows in broken horizontal section a vat constructed so that two lines of work can be passed therethrough. Fig. 10 shows inbroken plan a portion of a vat with means for driving the rollers. Fig. 11 shows in plan a portion of a vat designed fortreating one side only of the thin sheets. j In carrying out this invention, the "at is provided at each end with a slit or slot a combined with suitable means for rendering it liquid-tight when the thin sheets are. under treatment in the vat. Such means may or slot at, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, '3, l, 5, 9,1 0,

flaps 1) covering the slit" I modified form of valve, and Fig. 7 is a simiand 11, or flaps d and rollers o, as shown 1n Fig. 6, or rollers, a only, as shown in Fig.7.

' The rollers for feeding the thin sheets through the vats aregshown at e, and are arranged to be in close contact with one an otherwhen there 1s .noth n sheet between them, as shown clearly in Fig. 8. The rollers 0 Figs. 6 and 7 are similarly arranged, as

also are the flaps $6,. See Fig. 5. "Thus, wheni I the thin sheets enter between the flaps or rollers, as the case'may be, they press tightly upon the same and thereby make a close joint.-

The nose portion b mens oned as to cover an appreciable area of the flaps is so di-y of the thin sheets in order to make a more s efficient joint.

Preferably, the flaps are made of rubber,

and the rollers are, in somecases, covered with the same material. 7

Where flaps are employed to make the joint their nose portion Z2 is directed along the line of motion ofthe thin sheets; this will be understood on reference to the arrows shown in the also pre'ferably curve'd at their mouth or entrance end, as shown in the drawings, so as not only to facilitatethe entry of the thin sheets between them, but also to insure that their mutually opposed faces shall not be suddenly opened, but only gradually so,

as the thin sheets travel forward. In this way, any undue escape of liquid is prevented. Thus, non-continuous lengths of.

drawings. The flaps are work are, by means oft-any of the forms of valve above described, enabledv to be passed through the vat without any harmful loss to their series of operations'such as pickling (electrolytic or chemical), washing after pickling, I electro-depositing, and cleaning'after elecde'depositing, respectively.- In this arrangement-the sheets or plates is are shown folor. out of the vat. These flaps or valves 1 t1rely or partially one side of the sheets from electrolytic action. Fig. 11 shows how this lowing a horizontal path through the severa-l'yats, being passed along by the rollers e and entering and leavingthe vats below the level of the liquid.

. The flaps b can be made from a strip of rubber, rubber insertion or similar material .20

of'a length about equal'to the depth of the 'vat.-. The bottom of this strip is fastened flat against the end of the vat coverin the slitas-sh'own at 6 Figs. 4 and .5, an the strip is thendrawn inso as to form the nose or -fold along its 'center .line. .When

drawn inenough to give sufiicient bearing surface to'the folded part, the side edges are fastened to'the end of the vat as shown. at

b The rubber strip is then out along the fold at the center 'line so as to form the valve through which the sheets can" pass into sure of the liquid will keep the two parts 1 thereof pressed toward each other and so make a watertight 'oint on the sheet or plate. At the other or exlt end of thevat they are placed outside, and springssuch as 1, (Figs.

2, 3-and 9) are provided to exert a pressure on the two parts of the valve greater than that exertedby the liquid inside, and so keep them pressed toward each other to make a watertight joint on the. sheets .or plates.

Similar springs may of course be placed on the valves at the entrance end as shown at m in Fig.'10, to act in addition to the pressure k of theiliquid. The nose portion of the flaps ma if desired, be reinforced by strips 11. (Flgs. 3,9 and 10) of suitable material.

The feed rollers e are driven in any suit-' able manner as, for instance, by means of chalns, o and toothed wheels 1) driven from a shaft'g", seeFig. 10.

Referring now to Fig. .6,-the rollers c, lwhichconstitute feed-rollers, are placed in the slit or opening a in direct contact with the flapsd so that the latter press against them. This is a very suitable arrangement when very-thin sheets are being handled, as

f "they then encounter'no obstable to this passage into .or out of the vat. in some cases,

- names however, whenthe rollers are placed in the slit or opening of the vat, the flaps may be dispensed with as shown in Fig. 7 the rollers themselves being then made to fit closely at the sides and bottom, or any suitable means of packing may be adopted to render the or other suitable means. The rollers may thus be used to press on and level the deposited metal in the plating vat. Revolving and sliding brushes may be arranged to work on the surfaces of the sheets as "they are passed along by the rollers. I

To assist in keeping'the sheets or plates.

in the correct path and to take the weight of them, small rollers such as the .V-shaped one 8 shown in Fig. 8, maybe fitted.

It is an advantage to be able to treat one side only of the metal sheets, as for instance in electro-deposited tinned plate, where no tin, or only a veryslight deposit may be wanted on one side and a good deposit on the other. ThlS may easily be done according to my invention by blocking ofi' either en- 'may be sim ly arranged, for by roviding one of the iiaps I; with an'extensibn 6 extending u to the first inside roller e. The I flap woul be jointed to thebottom of the vat so thatno liquid could get 'in'behindit. Similar extended flaps would be fitted between the sets of rollers a portion of one of these being indicated at t. Magnets u may be. placed behind these extended flaps so that the sheets are, by. the attractionexerted by the magnets, .kept in close contact-with the- I flaps and thereby exclude the liquid.

0 shows a'backing for the extended flaps. It is obvious that any number of lines of work may be ass'ed through the vats if the latterare Ina e wide enough. They may all pass in the same or in opposite directions, as desired, with independent sets of rollers or therollers may be arranged'to pass alternate lines in alternate directions, as shown in Fig. 9. y

The anodes may also be made to pass through rollers, slits and valves in the same way as the sheetsor cathodes either in the same or in opposite direction. By this means the tin from a tinned plate made by the usual method of d pping in molten tinv may be entirely or partially removed and deposited on to-other sheets. I I

I claim:- 1. In electrolytic apparatus for treating I iug said openlngs,

I .in and in connection w solution and having an elongated opening solution a and having within the vat, means'for keeping-the feedrollers in driving contact with the sheet members, and means rollers.

3. In apparatus for driving the feedfor use in handling sheets ith'electrolytic and a vat adapted to contain an elongated opening at and rollers closing said being adapted to press similar processes, solution and having each end, and flaps openings, said flaps upon said rollers.

4. In apparatus for use in handling sheets in and in connection with electrolytic and similar, processes, a vatadapted to contain at each end, and rollers closing said open- 1n s.

In apparatus for use in handling sheets .in and inconnection with electrolytic and similar processes,' a vat adapted to .contain solution and having an elongated opening through which the sheet can pass, flaps cov ering said opening, one of said flaps having an extended portion, 12 for shielding one side of said sheets from electrolytic or chem1-'- cal action while they are in motion through the vat.

6. In apparatus for use in handling sheets in and in connection with electrolytic and similar processes,

an elongated opening sheets can pass, flaps covering said opening, one of said-flaps having an extended portion such as b for shieldthrough whichthe a vat adapted to contain ing one/side of said sheets from electrolytic or chemical action while they are in motion vat, and

- through the the sheets with said extended portion.

electrical means for in close engagement I 7. In electrolytic apparatus for treating disconnected sheet members, a vat'adapted to conta1n liquid and having anelongated opening at each end, openings,

close'conta ct with the'sheet me rollers without and within springs for pressings flaps covering said id flaps into bers, feedthe vat, means for keeping the feed-rollers in driving contact with the sheet members, and means D driving the feed-rollers. I

8. In electrolytic apparatus for treating disconnected sheet members, a vat for adapted to contain liquid and having an elongated opening, means flaps covering sai for feeding the d'opening, and

sheet members through the vat soconstructed and arranged that they cause the sheet members to'be-fed independently of one another.

9.,In electrolytic apparatus fortreating. disconnected sheet members, a vat I to eontain liquid and hav opening fiaps covering said opening, and

adapted v ing an elongated means within the vat for feeding the sheet members therethrough arranged that they cause so constructed and the sheet members to be fed independently of; one another.-' 1

10. In electrolytic appar disconnected sheet members,

having an elongated to contain liquid: and

atus for treatinga vat adapted opening, flaps covering said opening, and

, feed rollers within and arranged that they.

In witness whereof the vat for feeding the sheet members therethrough so constructed cause the sheet members to be fed independently of one another.

I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two witnesses.

Witnessesf. v

' JOHN FRANI; Bo

I W. E. YOUNG;

' LBEirr ERNEST BATTLE. 

